Gangnam Beauty (2018) [/]
Oct 23 2024
Gangnam Beauty is a South Korean romance/drama running the standard 16 episodes at an hour per episode.
Taking place during Freshman year at Korea University the main character is Kang Mi-rae (Im Soo-hyang), a formerly unattractive girl (though in the plenty of flashbacks we never see her face so whether she is physically unattractive or she just thought of herself that way is never said), who during the Summer gets extensive plastic surgery to make her into a beauty.
Unfortunately as the series progresses Mi-rae finds that her beauty doesn't fix her anxiety or social awkwardness. She is torn between wanting to be average, which is hard when is maybe the best looking girl in the Chemistry Department, and wanting to be invisible. Later on she becomes fearful that her classmates will shun her if they find out she is "Gangnam Beauty" which is slang for someone who's had so much plastic surgery they look a bit unreal and fake.
Meanwhile Mi-rae befriends Do Kyung-seok (Cha Eun-woo), the most handsome Freshman in the Chemistry Department. They actually come from the same high school and even though Kyung-seok was only there for a year she did leave an impression on him. A lot of the series is them slowly becoming attracted to each other but taking a long time to do it because he is very reticent and non-communicative.
And because it's not explicit everyone else thinks that Kyun-seok and class beauty Hyun Soo-ah (Jo Woo-ri) make the perfect couple. Soo-ah is outwardly the nice girl who befriends Mi-rae but as the series goes on Soo-ah is shown to be fairly manipulative and always wants the limelight and wants all the boys to like her in preference to any other girls. Still, she is not a totally unsympathetic character as late in the series we find out about her childhood and about her current hangups, for example an eating disorder.
Other characters:
Yeon Woo-young (Kwak Don-yeon) - Chemistry Department senior and rival for Mi-rae's affection
Oh Hyun-jung (Min Do-hee) - Mi-rae's childhood friend and roommate, studying Psychology and attracted to Woo-young though by the end of the series that hasn't panned out
Na Eun-sim (Kim Sun-hwa) and Kang Tae-sik (Woo Hyun) - Mi-rae's mom and dad, she supported her daughter's decision to get plastic surgery behind his back so when he finds out it creates a rift in the family.
Na Hye-sung (Park Joo-mi) - Kyung-seok's estranged mother, who left the family when they were young and now wants to reconnect. She is CEO of a cosmetics company and becomes Mi-rae's mentor.
Do Kyun-hee (Kim Ji-min) - Kyung-seok's teen sister who has her own influencer channel.
Do Sang-won (Park Sung-geun) - Kyung-seok's father, a politician who lied about why mom left the family.
The romance angle is about average as the show pays more attention about how toxic beauty can be for the one who is attractive. Overall it's a watchable series and I enjoyed it though it's not one of the best.
Taking place during Freshman year at Korea University the main character is Kang Mi-rae (Im Soo-hyang), a formerly unattractive girl (though in the plenty of flashbacks we never see her face so whether she is physically unattractive or she just thought of herself that way is never said), who during the Summer gets extensive plastic surgery to make her into a beauty.
Unfortunately as the series progresses Mi-rae finds that her beauty doesn't fix her anxiety or social awkwardness. She is torn between wanting to be average, which is hard when is maybe the best looking girl in the Chemistry Department, and wanting to be invisible. Later on she becomes fearful that her classmates will shun her if they find out she is "Gangnam Beauty" which is slang for someone who's had so much plastic surgery they look a bit unreal and fake.
Meanwhile Mi-rae befriends Do Kyung-seok (Cha Eun-woo), the most handsome Freshman in the Chemistry Department. They actually come from the same high school and even though Kyung-seok was only there for a year she did leave an impression on him. A lot of the series is them slowly becoming attracted to each other but taking a long time to do it because he is very reticent and non-communicative.
And because it's not explicit everyone else thinks that Kyun-seok and class beauty Hyun Soo-ah (Jo Woo-ri) make the perfect couple. Soo-ah is outwardly the nice girl who befriends Mi-rae but as the series goes on Soo-ah is shown to be fairly manipulative and always wants the limelight and wants all the boys to like her in preference to any other girls. Still, she is not a totally unsympathetic character as late in the series we find out about her childhood and about her current hangups, for example an eating disorder.
Other characters:
Yeon Woo-young (Kwak Don-yeon) - Chemistry Department senior and rival for Mi-rae's affection
Oh Hyun-jung (Min Do-hee) - Mi-rae's childhood friend and roommate, studying Psychology and attracted to Woo-young though by the end of the series that hasn't panned out
Na Eun-sim (Kim Sun-hwa) and Kang Tae-sik (Woo Hyun) - Mi-rae's mom and dad, she supported her daughter's decision to get plastic surgery behind his back so when he finds out it creates a rift in the family.
Na Hye-sung (Park Joo-mi) - Kyung-seok's estranged mother, who left the family when they were young and now wants to reconnect. She is CEO of a cosmetics company and becomes Mi-rae's mentor.
Do Kyun-hee (Kim Ji-min) - Kyung-seok's teen sister who has her own influencer channel.
Do Sang-won (Park Sung-geun) - Kyung-seok's father, a politician who lied about why mom left the family.
The romance angle is about average as the show pays more attention about how toxic beauty can be for the one who is attractive. Overall it's a watchable series and I enjoyed it though it's not one of the best.